


Lifeline (Valtameri)

by witchelmm



Series: oneshots [3]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, RIORDAN Rick - Works, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Alternate Universe- No Supernatural, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-20
Updated: 2017-08-20
Packaged: 2018-12-17 23:42:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,002
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11862102
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/witchelmm/pseuds/witchelmm
Summary: Percy was an exobiology student. He loved exobiology.Jason was a law student. He hated law. He was also Percy's only connection to the rest of the world.





	Lifeline (Valtameri)

**Author's Note:**

> Read the original fic here: http://archiveofourown.org/works/9057319/chapters/20603938

The transmitter kept fucking  _buzzing_.

There was something almost comforting about it; there were no other sounds besides the ones Percy made on the whole damn planet (moon? Asteroid? God knows what), and it was nice to hear something besides his own panicked breathing.

The wreckage of the pod around him was silent. No smoldering, no beeping, no hissing. And there was nothing as far as he could see in any direction besides a huge white-green peak in the distance and two smoking hell-portals billowing up from behind a white, craggy hill.

Percy jimmied the transmitter's antenna again. It lolled to the side disappointingly, like it had already given up.

"I get it, buddy," he muttered.

He'd decided to call the paper-colored place a moon. Maybe, if he stuck around long enough, he would get to name it.

He punched a specific series of buttons for the hundredth time. The transmitter told him that it was  _searching... , searching... , searching..._ He wanted to throw the laggy piece of shit.

Percy started humming, methodically dashing the transmitter against the ground. He stopped when the screen went bright green.

 **Percy:** _Hello  
Can anyone read me?_

Percy waited. The timestamps said it was two in the morning, but the sun was overhead, so obviously that meant jackshit.

Percy waited. He drummed on his knees and waited. He counted the hills in the distance (fourteen) and waited.

He typed,  _If anyone can read this please respond I'm running out of power_

The right side of the screen was crowded with words from Percy's hands. It seemed impossible that anything would fill up the left, now that he'd stared at the empty green space for so long.

You'd think, with all the tech shit that NASA had put out since the '70s, that they'd use better LCDs in their transmitters. But, instead, Percy felt like he was in a low-budget  _Space Odyssey_. And it was twenty-fifteen.  _AD_.

Three dots appeared on the left side of the screen. Jumping up and down, little crickets of communication. Percy kind of felt like jumping, too. And who was there to stop him?

 **Unknown:**   _Yeah, I'm getting these_.

 _'Yeah'?_  So, not NASA, then. Not anyone worth contacting. No one who could help.  _Great_.

But, still, seeing the words lit up Percy's entire body like it was Christmas and he hadn't just survived the god damn apocalypse.

 **Percy:**   _Thank god its been hours since I've talked to anyone  
I mean this isn't real talking but still_

So, what? Did he manage to bewitch an iPhone? God, was his only ally in this place an  _Apple user_?

 **Unknown:**   _Who are you?_

 **Percy:** _Shit right shoulda started with that_  
_My names Percy_  
_I was an astronaut on the Varia_

Then... nothing. Nothing, nothing. God  _damn!_  He was about to kick something.

 **Unknown:**   _'Was'? What happened?_

Percy typed so fast his thumbs started to hurt.

 **Percy:**   _crashed on some moon. I got no fucking idea where. I was in an escape pod but I don't know if anyone else was. My DPC sensor says the air is breathable so that's a miracle but I don't have any food or water. Managed to get the pods mobile transmitter working but the triangulation software's fucked Lucky for you, you're the first person I managed to get a hold of after fucking with it for hours_.

Percy read over his answer after he sent it. He was pretty sure he hadn't left anything out.

 **Unknown:**   _Are you okay?_

Percy made a sound. If he had to dissect it, he'd say it sounded like a cross between a scoff and a sob.  _Of course_  he wasn't  _okay_. The only reason he wasn't laying on the ground like he'd just gotten dumped was because he'd already established a rule:  _For risk of dehydration, I can only cry once every twenty-four hours_.

He'd already cried once that day.

There was no way he was saying any of that, so instead, he typed out,  _Thanks for the concern babe_.

 **Unknown:**   _It's a legitimate question._

"Asshole."

 **Percy:**   _well let's see_  
_my ship just crashed_  
_No one but you is hailing this frequency_  
_don't see any survivors besides me_  
_And I'm the least prepared for this type on incident_

 **Unknown:** _"Least prepared"?_

 **Percy:** _yeah. Im a student on board for an experience scholarship program. I don't have the same training everyone else did. So now im stuck. Alone. Here._

Typing it all out-- _admitting_  it--was both cathartic and pathetic.

_I'm a student_

_Scholarship program_

_I don't have the same training_

_I'm stuck_

_Alone_

_Here_

At least he got a scholarship. Made himself look a little better.

 **Unknown:**   _Describe "here"._

God damn, they never took a pity-break, did they?

 **Percy:**   _right so pod came down in some kinda desert. Everything's white, ground is dry rock. Huge peak a few miles away_. 

It occurred to Percy whoever he was communicating with might not be American. It was like he was talking to a silent, faceless shadow on the other side of a plexiglass screen and they were just handing back printed index cards.

He continued, on the same line:  _(or kilometers. Where are you from, ágnostos?)_

Percy sighed, surveyed the area around him, and sighed again. He kept typing.

_all weird and symmetrical, might not be natural. DPC suit says the peak is northeast, and in the SW are two huge smoking things. Cant see them they are behind a hill. But I think its two pieces of the Varia... best case scenario its ONLY in 2 pieces. Crash sites look closer than the peak.  
Where go?_

Percy had only asked because if he'd left it up to himself, he would've sat on his ass until he died of dehydration. There was no way he'd willingly hike himself to death in either direction. There was no way he'd go looking for the burnt crisps of his once-crewmates. There was  _no fucking way_.

But, luckily, it wasn't up to him.

 **Unknown:**   _I'd say go to the crash._


End file.
